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Friday, 28 July 2017

Create a magical fairy garden for children of all ages

Do you believe in fairies? If you or your children do, then over the summer holidays a great thing to do is invite the fairies to visit you by creating a magical garden for them. There are some simple things you can build that will make them want to take up residence in your garden, and the kids will love them too!

There are more great garden ideas for children at the bottom of this post. To make sure don't miss any in future, enter your email in the sidebar to subscribe.If you have a quiet corner of your garden, particularly a shady and secluded spot under a tree, then you have the perfect place for a fairy garden. Children will love tending to the area to make sure the fairies keep coming back, and will find the whole idea of this secret area enchanting. Creating a fairy garden is easier than ever, since most garden centres now have a range of miniature garden features you can buy, from a tree house to a castle, plus waterfalls, vegetable plots, bridges and loads more. Our fairy garden contains ready made doors to make sure the fairies can get in and out of their home in the base of our pear tree. But you can add a personal touch and make your fairy garden unique by building your own features. Nothing too technical, all you need is a saw, hammer, some nails, some twine, a couple of lolly sticks, and some wood.

Fairy clock

The fairy clock is so simple. I can't remember where I got the idea, I must have seen something similar somewhere. All you do is take a load of nails and hammer them into a sawn log, to form the numerals of a clock face. It's up to you whether you go for roman numerals or something more contemporary. How many digits you fit in will depend on the size of the log you use. Make the nails a decent size so they are easy to see. Add lolly sticks for the hands and you're done!

Wooden stepping stone path

Stepping stones made from log slices have been popular for a while. The idea of a path made from natural materials is appealing. It certainly adds charm to a woodland setting. With a little precision with a saw, your fairies can have the same look! Take some prunings from any tree and saw them into slices anything from a few mm to a cm thickness. The diameter depends on what you have available but try and keep it in proportion to any other features you already have. Then arrange the slices to form a path that the fairies can use to walk around their garden. Ours leads them up to the door in the base of the tree. It looks particularly effective amongst bark chippings.

Fairy Garden Seat

For this rustic bench for the fairies to sit on, you need a couple of small logs the length that you want the seat to be. Cut one in half to make the two legs. Split the other down the middle. This easy with an axe if you have one but can be done with a saw, though it will take a bit longer. The aim is simply to get a flat surface for the fairies to sit on. You can nail it together, or you can saw a shallow "V" shape into the top of the legs by cutting the tops at an angle, so that the cross piece rests in the groove.

Fairy Swing

Use the same technique to make this swing. The supports need to be taller than for the seat, and a smaller cross piece can be simply nailed into the top of the supports. Then find a small flat piece of wood - any sort of offcut will do - and suspend it by winding twine around it and tying the ends over the crosspiece. If you are a really keen you could drill holes in the seat to tie in the twine more securely. However you do it, adjust both sides so the seat is level before tying off - you don't want any fairies falling off and hurting themselves!

Other ideas to try:

Use a small offcut of decking board to give the fairies their own miniature deck.

Use one or more flat stones to build them a patio.

If you like these ideas, then check out some of my other ideas for garden features for children below, and please share them if you think they're any good.I'll be back with more ideas soon, so don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any! Make a fun water play garden feature for children

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About Me

Hi, I'm Paul Cartwright, the Green Fingered Blogger. I spend as much time as I can in my garden near Castell Coch in Cardiff. I love plants and gardens and I love to help others enjoy them too.
I've met lots of people who would love to have a beautiful garden but who think it's too difficult, too expensive, or too time consuming. I want The Green Fingered Blog to show that creating the garden you want doesn't have to cost a fortune, take too much time, or need too much skill or effort.
I hope my ideas and advice will help and inspire people to give gardening a go whether they have a large garden, a small back yard or just a few pots on a balcony.
Spending time amongst plants is good for your body and mind, and the great thing about gardening is there is something for everyone. Whatever your style or taste, there is a plant, and a type of garden, that you can enjoy. All you have to do is find them, and the Green Fingered Blogger is here to help!